In The Vessel, we explore the ship that has been financed and leveraged by different countries of the world, registered in another, and serving different purposes as needed politically, socially, and economically. I’ve always been curious about how things work in open seas, and this book helped me learn a bit more.

I thought this book was very interesting and easy to understand. I also like how each chapter relates to a different region.

A barge is built 45 years ago, and turned into an accommodation vessel—a “coastel”—to house oil rig workers, soldiers, prisoners, factory workers…but mostly to be carried by the currents of politics, geopolitics, economics, whims of shipping magnates and registry preferences, and culture. Kumekawa does an amazing job of paying attention to the contexts of shipbuilding—regulatory changes, government fiscal policy, crime statistics, historical foundations that set into motion movements carried out in contemporary times. The vessel (and her sister) are not tremendous feats of shipbuilding but it is indicative of the transitory needs of various national and business interests. It’s hard to think of any aspect the author may have missed. But if you needed to know how we got “here,” this book will trace the flow of our shared lifetimes—and our forebears—through the story of this “empty vessel.”